iPad Why did you choose an iPad rather than a Laptop?

[romanof]

I would appreciate some input from guy/gals that use an iPad/Tablet for actual work, rather than just consuming media. My equipment has always been a desktop for power use and a laptop on the go. That said, I have owned the original iPad and another - a mini or some such that I still have. They were/are great for consuming as I said, to pass the time in a hotel room or doctor's office, but I never found a use other than that.

It seems to me that the purchase of, say, an iPad pro with a keyboard and a stand just gives you an ersatz laptop, with nowhere near the capability of an MB Air. Or does it? If you use a slab instead of a laptop for actual work, I would like to know why you chose one over the other.

 

[Abazigal]

For me, it's because an iPad lets me perform tasks that a laptop either can't do, or can't do as well.

The image below best sums up why I often choose to use an iPad to do the stuff that I do, because that's the nature of my work.

For context, I am a primary school teacher using his iPad to help teach in the classroom. My main use case is notability in the classroom, mirrored to the projector via an Apple TV. Writing on documents is smooth thanks to the Apple Pencil, and the integrated nature of the Smart Keyboard allows me to switch seamlessly between typing and tablet mode. It also frees me up to move around the classroom and better monitor my students' progress.

And while consumption seems like a dirty word around here, this is also a significant part of my work as a teacher. I have my teaching material organised in notability, making it easy for me to access when I want to review them. The iPad is also a great presentation tool, and fun for note taking during meetings (in part due to the longer battery life, the lightweight form factor, and apps). Having an iPad in front of you somehow looks more "serious" compared to a smartphone, even if I have Apollo (a reddit client) opened alongside notes, with telegram in slide-over.

Other things that are possible on an iPad include scanning documents with scanner pro, using the camera to double as a visualiser, recording videos (the iPad has a great camera) to later edit using lumafusion, and when marking books, the iPad+Smart Keyboard form factor takes up less space on my desk overall compared to a laptop. I sometimes use mindnode to organise my thoughts, or Things to plan tasks, and overall, the iPad is just this right compromise of ease of use and accessibility for me.

And when I am at home, the iPad is the ultimately consumption tool.

I don't get that same fluidity with a laptop. MacBooks lack touchscreens, and windows software is still pretty clunky and not at all optimised for touch. I also have an iMac and a MBA which I use for the heavy lifting, like working on documents, and preparing lesson material. So in a sense, I am able to get by using an iPad at work because I have another PC elsewhere to fill in the gaps where the iPad can't. I am not all-in on my iPad, and that was never my goal, but I do try to push the boundaries on what can be done on my iPad from time to time.

 

[furious]

I no longer need to type or make complex document. I just watch YouTube and browse websites. iPad is best for me to do those tasks.

 

[freakomac]

Good touchscreens with a friendly OS make using an iPad so much easier to use than Mac. For most workflows iPad is faster to use and get stuff done. Of course YMMV. My MBP is now relegated to just being a backup machine.

 

[firedept]

I own an iMac and MacBook Pro. So obvious choice was an iPad. The iPad is just easier for sitting around the house with. It also plays well with AirPlay.

 

[yabeweb]

Having affinity on iPads made the decision easy, nice hardware, easy to bring with me and serves my needs, mostly graphic stuff.

 

[one more]

I prefer iPad over a laptop for its size, weight and on-screen keyboard, as my work is mobile and I need to use three different languages. For day-to-day tasks my iPad Air 4 is also much snappier than my MBP 2015.

 

[cupcakes2000]

I’m surprised this question has never been asked before /s

 

[spyguy10709]

Simple answer, I didn't.

I have a Macbook Pro, too. If I had to pick between the two - as in, I could only have one - I'd pick the Macbook. Why? iPads are convenient, but still limited.

 

[ericwn]

I no longer need to type or make complex document. I just watch YouTube and browse websites. iPad is best for me to do those tasks.

But the OP is specifically looking for those who get work done on iPad.

 

[kazmac]

I can scan and mark up PDFs better on an iPad. An iPad allows me to have a book sized screen by my work PC and frees up precious space on my second monitor. Lately, I focus better at work having instructions on an iPad. Using my iPad Air for this now.

Beyond work, my main use of the iPad is for art and light writing, this allows me to draw wherever I want, whereas a desktop/laptop would force me to be where that computer is, tethered by a Wacom tablet. Ironically, I had to get a laptop back in December, but I barely use it now due to the work PC and my Air.

 

[jb1280]

Cellular connectivity with a separate carrier that provides way lower risk of not being connected
Better cameras for both video conferencing and documenting items and scanning documents
Apple Pencil support for annotations and general notes

beyond that, iPad just has nicer hardware like the display

 

[dgdosen]

I'll echo the consumption notion. Reading books, news, twitter, web... - the ipad excels (Especially if it's super light and portable, like the mini)

While the ipad is great for note taking (goodnotes/bear) it feels like a compromise for almost all other productivity tasks.

 

[Puonti]

I would appreciate some input from guy/gals that use an iPad/Tablet for actual work, rather than just consuming media.

When you say "work", do you mean work that pays, or also "other non-media-consumption activities" that one might do on a computer outside of work?

 

[furious]

But the OP is specifically looking for those who get work done on iPad.

I never said I did that at home.

 

[darngooddesign]

I never said I did that at home.

"If you use a slab instead of a laptop for actual work, I would like to know why you chose one over the other."

Sure, but watching YouTube and surfing the web is not what the OP asked about, regardless of where you do it.

 

[RoadWarrior56]

I have and use both an iPad and a laptop for what each is best at,with some overlap. I have a personal 13” hp laptop with an aluminium body and excellent specs - Intel i7 processor, 16 GB of RAM, 512 GB SSD, (not all iphone and/or ipad users are Mac users), which is the Windows equivalent of a 13” Mac Pro, and a 256 MB iPad Mini 5. I use the iPad primarily for media consumption, web browsing, reading, personal emails and note taking. I use the laptop for work emails, document creation, “heavier” web browsing, virtual meetings, personal finance, and remote access to my work Windows workstation.

 

[Rafterman]

I found that 19 out of 20 things I do for work could be done on an iPad. Maybe even all of it. But the iPad does have two major flaws that prevents it from being a true laptiop replacement - easy multitasking and file management. Nothing can replace a desktop for that.

 

[Greenmeenie]

For the immersive experience. It does everything a laptop does & more. I bought the very first iPad back in 2010 with the unlimited wifi plan from AT&T and am still grandfathered in. For the first few years I had both a laptop & an ipad. But i have been iPad only for years now. I don’t miss my laptop at all. I‘m an artist who not only uses my ipad to consume media on…but to create on as well. I use the Apple pencil for drawing, but I also edit photos & video on it too. My iPad pro blows thru 4k video faster than my laptop ever could. Plus I travel a lot, and the ipad is so much more portable. And it has cellular which is crucial while on the road. I still have an iMac at home, but I could never see myself getting a laptop ever again.

 

[paulmeyers42]

I have an iPad Pro 11” with Magic Keyboard that I use as a tablet/laptop in addition to my 27” iMac. I use the iMac for my job when I work from home. When I go into the office, I have a work provided MacBook Pro that I use plugged into a 33” screen. When I go from meeting to meeting in the office, I’ll take the iPad Pro. When I travel, I only take the iPad Pro, not my work laptop.

So, what do I do? Mostly typical office work - Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams, Slack, Evernote, OmniFocus, PDF markup, files management with OneDrive, web apps, etc. With the Magic Keyboard, the iPad Pro works great for most things. I do wish the apps were more fully featured but I only rarely run into issues.

I upgraded from the 2018 to the 2021 M1 model for the memory. That has a made a big difference - I can keep all my apps in memory now, which improves my productivity.

Overall I’m really happy with this setup. I tried upgrading to the 12.9” 2021 M1 model, but preferred the portability of the 11”, especially for consumption use cases. I definitely recommend trying it out.

 

[SigEp265]

Having affinity on iPads made the decision easy, nice hardware, easy to bring with me and serves my needs, mostly graphic stuff.

The only difficult part I find using Affinity on iPad is font management.

 

[sparksd]

Lack of fully-functional Office365 apps has been a sticking point for me for work activities on the iPad. I make heavy use of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint and the iPad implementations have shortcomings so I use a 16GB i7 Surface Pro 7 for working and the 12.9 iPad for consumption (mainly).

 

[yabeweb]

The only difficult part I find using Affinity on iPad is font management.

That is an iOS issue rather than affinity,and it’s true, installing fonts is cumbersome at best.

 

[Mainsail]

I would love to live in a world where I had just an iMac + iPad + iPhone. The iMac would be for desktop productivity and multi-tasking intensive work. iPad would be for reviewing/marking-up documents and taking notes. An ideal on-the-go device for light productivity. In this scenario, I would only use the iPad in tablet form (maybe with a pencil or simple stylus), without bulky keyboard or trackpad, so I never tried to turn it into something it is not. Then iPadOS would be the perfect OS because it is designed for touch based tablet use. I would be like those star fleet officers that carry around a light tablet and then use the onboard starship computer for their computations in the astrometric lab. With the help of Seven of Nine....of course. Yes, I would use the iPad simply and as God and Steve Jobs intended..... as a third type of device that sits between a computer and a smartphone.

Well, that's my dream anyway. Unfortunately, I still need to have an MBA for those occasions when I need to be productive and do multi-tasking tasks away from my desk. Alas.

 

[ericwn]

I never said I did that at home.

And the OP is about getting WORK done not watching YouTube at work.